Charities provide many vital services for New Zealand society; however, charities are in constant need of donations from the public in order to provide these services. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between situational optimism/pessimism and donating intentions. Two hundred and fifty three people from the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand took part in experiment. Participants were randomly assigned to one of five conditions in which they viewed an optimistic, pessimistic or neutral (control) image and were asked to rate their intention to donate to a disaster relief charity. When covariates were controlled for, the results revealed that people who saw the pessimistic image were more likely to intend to donate than participants who looked at optimistic image. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Traditionally political donating behavior has been explained using socio-demographic and socialization-based models. The dramatic increase in the number of donors between 2000 and 2008 and the virtual elimination of structural barriers that limited donating to a select few suggest that this explanation is no longer adequate. What differentiates individuals who donate from those who do not? To answer this question I expand the traditional funnel of causality to develop a theoretical model that integrates biological, psychological, political behavior, and rational choice approaches. Using five samples, three nationally representative and two population-based surveys collected in 1990 and 2008, I investigate each level of the new funnel of causality using empirical models. I find that the best predictors of political donating are personality and attitudes, with a small role of context in the form of direct contact from parties. This new model explains more of the variance in political donating than the traditional model, and represents the most theoretically and empirically complete models in the literature.

Background Benefits of breastfeeding for infants and mothers are well recognized. South Africa has a very low breastfeeding rate. Strategies to improve and promote exclusive breastfeeding rates include implementation of human milk banks (HMB). The North West Province started its first HMB in 2012 and the success and sustainability will depend on numerous factors, including identification of possible barriers to donation or receiving donor human milk. In support of such an intervention, the attitudes of each relevant stakeholders, mothers, community members and health care providers on acceptability of donating and receiving donated breastmilk is therefore important for the success of such an intervention Objectives The objective of this dissertation was determining the attitudes on acceptability regarding the donation and receiving of human breast milk for key stakeholders, namely mothers, healthcare workers and the elderly representing grandmothers. Methods This study was conducted at a public hospital and nearby clinics in North West province, South Africa using qualitative research methodology of focus group discussions (FGDs) for data collection. Eight focus groups discussed the attitudes, 3 of mothers of 0 to 12 month old infants (n=13), 3 of elderly participants older than 60 years (n=17) and 2 of healthcare professionals, working with infants younger than 1 year (n=11). Results Important attitudes on acceptability of receiving and donating human donor milk were identified from the literature and this research project. Stakeholders had safety and cultural concerns regarding donation and receiving of donated human milk. Participants also indicated the need for education that may improve the attitudes. These findings may inform future policy planning and HMB promotion in communities. The identified attitudes reflected barriers to exclusive breast feeding, donating and receiving breast milk. These included, the need for HIV screening; cultural beliefs relating to transfer of personality traits and bonding and fears of not having enough milk for their own infants; perceived changes in quality of donated milk during pasteurisation and transportation as well as HIV transmission. Conclusion The study identified important attitudes that may be possible barriers and fears to accepting or donating human breast milk. Some of the identified attitudes could also limit exclusive breast feeding. Further research is recommended to determine how prevalent the identified attitudes are in this and similar community settings. / MSc (Dietetics), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Background Benefits of breastfeeding for infants and mothers are well recognized. South Africa has a very low breastfeeding rate. Strategies to improve and promote exclusive breastfeeding rates include implementation of human milk banks (HMB). The North West Province started its first HMB in 2012 and the success and sustainability will depend on numerous factors, including identification of possible barriers to donation or receiving donor human milk. In support of such an intervention, the attitudes of each relevant stakeholders, mothers, community members and health care providers on acceptability of donating and receiving donated breastmilk is therefore important for the success of such an intervention Objectives The objective of this dissertation was determining the attitudes on acceptability regarding the donation and receiving of human breast milk for key stakeholders, namely mothers, healthcare workers and the elderly representing grandmothers. Methods This study was conducted at a public hospital and nearby clinics in North West province, South Africa using qualitative research methodology of focus group discussions (FGDs) for data collection. Eight focus groups discussed the attitudes, 3 of mothers of 0 to 12 month old infants (n=13), 3 of elderly participants older than 60 years (n=17) and 2 of healthcare professionals, working with infants younger than 1 year (n=11). Results Important attitudes on acceptability of receiving and donating human donor milk were identified from the literature and this research project. Stakeholders had safety and cultural concerns regarding donation and receiving of donated human milk. Participants also indicated the need for education that may improve the attitudes. These findings may inform future policy planning and HMB promotion in communities. The identified attitudes reflected barriers to exclusive breast feeding, donating and receiving breast milk. These included, the need for HIV screening; cultural beliefs relating to transfer of personality traits and bonding and fears of not having enough milk for their own infants; perceived changes in quality of donated milk during pasteurisation and transportation as well as HIV transmission. Conclusion The study identified important attitudes that may be possible barriers and fears to accepting or donating human breast milk. Some of the identified attitudes could also limit exclusive breast feeding. Further research is recommended to determine how prevalent the identified attitudes are in this and similar community settings. / MSc (Dietetics), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Wetland, which contains about 20 - 30% of global soil carbon pool (Lal, 2008), is one of the world’s most important environmental resources for long-term carbon storage, and plays a vital role in global carbon cycling, especially in mitigating carbon concentration in the atmosphere. However, it is also the ecosystem that has been most seriously abused and suffering from continuous degradation and loss across the world. During the past few centuries, about 50% of the world’s wetland has been lost due to increasing anthropogenic disturbances and global warming (Mitsch & Gosselink, 2007; Gibbs, 2000; Dugan, 1993; Zedler and Kercher, 2005). One typical example is the wetland in Dongting Lake area of China, which was once China’s largest freshwater wetland and now has become the second one. During the past few decades, the Lake has experienced many significant changes causing the rapid degradation, shrinkage and fragmentation of its wetland. Therefore, monitoring the changes of the Lake wetland in spatial distribution and temporal trend and predicting its potential dynamics under climate change and human induced disturbances are becoming increasingly important for linking policy decision-making with regulatory actions and subsequent land-use activities. The overall objective of this project is to monitor the wetland changes in the Lake area and predict its dynamics in the future using proposed land use and land cover (LULC) classification, change detection and modelling approaches. To start with, this study examined the spatiotemporal dynamics of the Lake wetland patterns during the past half century through analyzing remotely sensed images acquired on six time points, including 1978, 1984, 1994, 2001, 2004, 2009, and 2013. A hybrid knowledge-based classification method which combines supervised and expert classification systems was first applied to conduct image classifications with special attention to the classification accuracy of the wetland categories including water, paddy field, reed and marsh categories. After that, a post-classification based change detection technique was carried out to monitor the dynamics of the Lake wetland. The error matrices and Kappa coefficients were than used to assess the classification accuracy. The classification results demonstrated that the proposed hybrid classification approach could discriminate the wetland categories from others with the high accuracy of 96.9%, 93.7%, 82.6%, and 82.4% for water, paddy field, reed, and marsh categories, respectively. The LULC analysis based on the classification showed that wetland area (reed and marsh) in the Lake area has decreased with a dramatic decrease trend after the Three Gorges Dam being fully operated in 2003. To predict future wetland changes and allocate the changes effectively, an integrated model incorporating the logistic, the Markov, and the Conversion of Land use and its Effects (CLUE-S) models has been developed and utilized to 1) produce the LULC probability surface maps; 2) to simulate the LULC change demand in 2013 and 2025 of which the demand for 2013 was then used for validating the results of this integrated model by comparing with the actual LULC maps of the same year; 3) to allocate the simulated changes of 2013 and 2025 based on the obtained LULC probability surface maps and some user-defined rules including land use conversion rules and conversion elasticity. The results from the model validation indicated that the integrated model performed very well with an overall modelling accuracy and Kappa statistic of 80.2% and 74.9%, respectively. The results also suggested that the wetland area is likely to undergo further decrease of another 256.3 km2 by 2025. In summary, this study focused on the development of a unique and integrated approach for the LULC image classification, change detection and prediction of the wetland area – Dongting Lake region in which the landscape was complex and experiencing fast and dramatic changes due to the construction of the TGD. The approach can be easily extended to other wetland associated studies. By providing the information of the long-term wetland dynamics and simulation of its future changes in the Lake area, this research will also enhance our understanding of wetland resources, their dynamics and relationships with human activity induced disturbances and thus promote our ability to make informed use and wise restoration regulations of wetlands.

Refcoal is a refined carbon source obtained by extraction of coal with dimethylformamide (DMF). During the coking process, Refcoal goes through a mesophase (fluid) stage to form an anisotropic coke. In contrast, oxidised Refcoal does not undergo such a mesophase stage during the carbonisation process. Thus it does not yield an anisotropic coke, but forms an isotropic coke. The objective of this study is to produce an anisotropic coke from oxidised Refcoal. For this purpose, diabietic acid, a hydrogen donor, was considered as a suitable additive. Coking was performed in sealed glass capillary tubes as diabietic acid proved to be volatile at the carbonisation temperature of 500 °C. The resultant cokes were analysed using thermogravimetric analysis, Raman spectroscopy and optical microscopy. The results show that the degree of anisotropy increased with diabietic acid content (3, 5 and 10 mass %). / Dissertation (MSc (Chemistry))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Chemistry / MSc / Unrestricted

The purpose of this research was to investigate the effects of prosocial videogames, played both singly and cooperatively, and aggressive videogames, played both singly and competitively, on children's prosocial behavior. Eighty boys and 80 girls, half third and fourth graders, and half seventh and eighth graders, were randomly assigned to one of five conditions. In a control condition, children answered questions about videogame experience and enjoyment. In two of the treatment conditions, children played a videogame with prosocial content (a human-like fantasy character rescuing another from danger); half of the children played this game singly, while the other half played cooperatively. In the other two conditions, children played an aggressive videogame (stylized boxing), with half of the children playing singly and the other half competing. Following exposure to one of these conditions, each child's game score, game enjoyment rating, level of donating, and level of helping were measured. The results of a three-way analysis of variance (sex x grade x treatment) on donating yielded significant effects for age, F(1, 140) = 34.12, p = Although prosocial videogame play did not increase prosocial responding, aggressive videogame play clearly suppressed this behavior. The failure of the prosocial condition to accelerate donating and helping might be due to the relatively brief exposure used in this study (10 minutes) and/or to the particular prosocial videogame utilized. The failure of the cooperative and competitive game modes to affect prosocial behavior may have been due to the age of the children or to the possibly aversive effects of the type of cooperation required.

The nonprofit sector in Czech Republic grows slowly and in many key aspects significantly lags behind western countries. In fact, to find a feasible way to growth is actually far from being easy. Nonprofits, frequently encountering problems with self-presentation and communication with supporters, fail to establish transparency and credibility among public, which is connected to considerably low sum of financial donations supporting nonprofit causes and low public interest in volunteering as well. An aim of this thesis is to proceed with an analysis of a problem domain and to design a solution which lies in founding a platform organization, which would be able to offer IT supported services allowing the nonprofits to overcome aforementioned difficulties.

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The master´s thesis discusses the analysis of the plasma donor market in the Czech Republic with focus on Prague and Central Bohemian Region. The main aim of this thesis is to assess this market, identify behaviour of blood plasma donors and motives leading to regular donations, through research of primary and secondary data. Further the thesis deals with detection the awareness of donating blood plasma among studnets of prague universities and barriers to become a donor. The theoretical part of this thesis defines a donor market with legislation. Application part includes competitor analysis based on secondary data and research of blood plasma donators and Prague students. Thesis concludes with a marketing recommendations for a selected donor centre, which are deducted from the analysis.